Many of the headlines coming out of Japan regarding potential sightings of alien spacecraft come from the province of Fukushima. In 2021, in the district of Iinomachi, Takeharu Mikami — editor-in-chief of the occult and strange phenomena magazine Mu — was appointed director of the newly opened International UFO Lab, which seeks to collate and verify evidence of alien sightings. Speaking at the grand opening of the lab, Mikami said (via The Asahi Shimbun): "It will be a research institute that will attract worldwide attention. We'd like people to provide us with a lot of information."
On June 25, 2023, Mikami and his team held a press conference in which they revealed their findings thus far, according to The Japan News. They announced that of the 452 pieces of potential UFO evidence that had been submitted to the International UFO Lab since its opening in 2021, 125 photos and 24 videos appeared to legitimately show potential extra-terrestrial objects. Four of the images were released to the public.
Despite the International UFO Lab's insistence that numerous pieces of evidence prove extra-terrestrial objects have been sighted over Japan, the government itself has thus far shown little interest in attempting to corroborate the lab's findings. Whereas the U.S. military has declassified various pieces of footage over the years, Japan is insistent that no unusual aerial phenomena have ever been encountered by its aircraft personnel, per The Telegraph.
